Just Smile
by kayladian
Summary: Childhood is fleeting and is not always filled with happy memories. Bella grows up with her brother Emmett in Phoenix, Arizona. She goes through the divorce of her parents, the loss of her friends, and the struggles of being alone. Her motto is to just smile through the pain. Rated M for cursing, themes of rape, and adult themes. All of which will be in later chapters.


_**Just Smile**_

_**Chapter One**_

_Now, this is a story all about how my life got flipped-turned upside down and I'd like to take a minute just sit right there I'll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel Air. _As I sat on the couch watching the next episode in the Fresh Prince marathon, I glanced out the window at my older brother playing with his friend. My older brother Emmett is one year older than me and my 7th birthday just passed. Even though we are very close in age we have very different interests. He is very athletic and plays multiple sports, such as football, baseball, and basketball. I on the other hand could care less about sports. Reading and air-conditioning is where I spend my time. Even though I'm seven I already despise the immense heat that is Phoenix, Arizona. My mother insists that we live here because this is where she grew up. The only other person who agrees with my feelings towards heat is my father, Charlie. He is from up north in a small town called Forks, Washington, where it is always rainy and chilly. He and my mother fight a lot about things I don't understand. They try to cover up their disgust with each other so as not to upset Emmett and me. But we see it.

"Belly!" Emmett came thundering in like a bulldozer. "Come outside and play. Alice is playing with chalk on the driveway and keeps trying to get Edward and me to draw with her."

"So play with her, Em" I say while staring at the TV.

"No! Can you please play with her so Edward and I can continue our football game?" He begged as he got on his knees.

"Fine, but I'm not good at drawing." I say as I follow Emmett outside. When I said yes he got all excited and hugged me before running outside. I walked out the front door and I felt the heat hit me full force, it was a dry heat with dust in the air.

I saw Alice sitting on the driveway with a pink piece of chalk in her hand. Her long raven black hair flowed down her back. She had a yellow headband in her hair and it matched her sunflower shirt. I looked down at what she was drawing and it was a ballerina. She and I take a ballet class together on the weekends. She's much better than I am, it's like she was born to dance and my face was meant to fall on the floor. I sat down next to her and grabbed a blue chalk piece.

"Hi Bella! Thanks for coming outside. I was getting bored by myself. Do you want to play hopscotch? Or I could draw an outline of you." She stopped to gasp for breath.

"Slow down Alice! You can do an outline of me if you want to." I suggested. I handed her the blue chalk and went to lie on the ground. My face was turned upward, but the sun was directly above and the brightness hurt my eyes. So I turned my head to face Emmett and Edward playing football. Edward and Alice are siblings and they come to our house all the time because we are all best friends. Edward is the same age as Emmett and Alice is seven like me.

"Stop fidgeting your left foot, Bella." Alice complained.

"Sorry. I got distracted." I apologized. I starting watching Edward because he had the football and was trying to run past Emmett to score a touchdown between the two tall trees in our front yard. Emmett though was much bigger than Edward, even for an eight year old, and was getting ready to tackle him. But Edward was light on his feet and maneuvered right past Emmett and ran straight for the touchdown.

"Not fair! You tricked me!" Emmett yelled! Sometimes Emmett could either be a cuddly bear or a big cry baby.

"Did not. You're just a sore loser!" Edward said laughing with his carefree attitude. His bronze colored hair was all ruffled from their playing and it looked like there was a hole in his shorts. I consider him and Alice part of my family. I have known them for as long as I can remember. His green eyes met mine and his smile widened a little more showing his white teeth. He was missing a front tooth.

"Bella, tell your brother to stop moping around! I beat him fair and square." Edward said.

"Emmett", I yelled "Edward told me to tell you to stop moping around like a big baby!" I said amusingly. Emmett stuck his tongue out at me.

Edward came over next to me and Alice and sat down with the football still in his hands. Alice told me she was finished outlining and that I could get up. I went and sat next to Edward, he grabbed a brown chalk piece and started drawing my hair. As I began to draw a purple shirt, Alice went back to drawing her ballerina.

"Where did Em go?" I asked looking for him.

"I think he went inside to get us some water." Edward answered. I looked up to see he was now drawing my face. He gave me brown eyes and red lips. I looked really pretty in the picture and it made me happy to know that's what he saw. Emmett came outside and he had four water bottles in his hands. He handed one to each of us then turned to me.

"Bella, mom said we have to go inside now." He said. Emmett said goodbye to Edward and Alice and went to walk inside. So I got up too and wiped the chalk off my hands onto my shorts.

"Bye guys. See you later." I waved to them and then went to follow Emmett.

"Bye Bella!" Edward yelled as I got farther away.

I entered the house and was welcomed by the wonderful feeling of air conditioning. I walked into the kitchen and saw my mom with her back turned towards me. She was on the phone and it sounded like she was upset.

"Fine Charlie! I'm tired of you always complaining anyways. If you are so miserable married to me then why don't we just get divorced!" She whispered violently. My dad replied, but I couldn't hear what he said.

"This is not my fault! We have been falling apart the past few years and we tried separating but it is difficult trying not to let the kids find out." She stopped and I thought I could hear her crying. "I think we should get the divorce finalized." She let my dad reply. "No I will. Yes the kids will live with me. I don't want them being uprooted and have to leave their home."

Divorce? Does that mean my mom and dad won't be together anymore? I started to feel panicked and ran to go tell Emmett. After I found him and told him everything I had heard he started to try and comfort me. He pulls me into a hug and in a calm voice says everything will be okay. But will it?

Divorce may not be finalized quickly, but my dad sure did move away in a heartbeat. One moment Emmett is comforting me and promising nothing will change and the next my mom is explaining to me what happens when two people no longer love each other. All it means to me is that now my dad has moved away and I won't see him that much anymore. He told me before he left that he loved me and that he would visit all the time and that I could call him whenever I wanted to. He moved away to his home town in Forks, he said that his job at the police station was guaranteed back.

The first few months were difficult because my dad always use to read me bedtime stories. He was the reason I fell in love with books. Alice didn't understand what divorce was and even after Emmett explained it she still couldn't grasp the concept that two people fell out of love. I tried to show my friends it didn't bother me. I played outside more and went over to their house instead of ours. I smiled and had a good time at ballet and school I excelled at.

Eventually it became easier to talk about. When other children asked me about my parents, I just stated that they were divorced and that I lived with my mother. End of discussion. A couple years passed and I'm now getting ready to graduate from elementary school. Next year I will be a middle schooler! Emmett and Edward are going into 7th grade. Emmett doesn't like me hanging out with him and his friends anymore. He says that they are too mature to hang out with a little girl. But to my delight Edward still talks to me whenever we are in the same room. We joke around like always and we make fun of Emmett together.

After my last day of 5th grade I decided to go over to Alice's house. I ring her door bell, excited to talk about our plans for the summer and middle school. But instead of seeing her as happy as I am, when she opens the door she is crying.

"What's wrong? I ask as I run to her side. I put my hand around her shoulder and guide her outside towards the front porch swing.

"M-my mom and d-ad said that we are m-moving!" she stuttered. She put her puffy face into her hands and sobbed some more.

No! This can't be happening I can't lose my best friend and my dad all in three years.

"Are you sure? But why?" I ask

"My dad got a n-new job," She explains, "He said that it pays more, but I don't care about that I don't want to leave my friends or school!" Her crying is now uncontrollable and all I want to do is come up with a solution to fix it all. I just want to see her happy. I rack my brain for anything that might help.

"Maybe we can ask my mom if you can live with us. She loves you and would definitely let you stay." I say excitedly. This is a great solution. I know my mom couldn't possibly say no.

"Bella I can't. I want to, but my parents won't let me even if your mom says yes." She says sadly.

"Then what are we going to do?" I start to tear up, "you are my best friend."

"I'm sorry Bella, so so sorry." She cried as she hugged me. We sat there together for a long time. Then Alice picked up her head and told me that they wouldn't be leaving for another two weeks. She said this to make me feel better because it meant that we could spend every moment together.

All I could think about though was how now I won't have anyone.

The next two weeks fly by. I helped Alice pack all of her belongings and she even gave me a special necklace. It was a beautiful gold locket that was see through. Inside it contained our names and a best friend's forever heart. She told me she had one too but hers was silver. Over those two weeks we had about five sleepovers and we swum in her pool almost every day. Emmett even let me hang out with him and Edward when they played basketball. I was never good at it, but it felt nice to hang out with Edward some before he left too. Spending all this time together was great but it just reminded me that they would be leaving soon.

When the day finally came I sluggishly made my way to Edward and Alice Cullen's house. The moving van was outside and the workers were placing a black leather couch into the truck. Alice was outside next to her mother Esme, they were watching Alice's father, Carlisle direct which boxes were fragile to the movers.

"Hello Sweetie. How are you today?" Esme asked me lovingly. I really do consider her a second mother. She always treats me like one of her children.

"Fine, I guess. Sad that you are moving." I glance up at Esme and see her eyes look gently down at me.

"I know you will miss Alice, but you both will always be friends. You may call and write letters. You will also be able to visit." She assures me.

Why do adults say that we will stay in touch? My dad said that too and he only ever called me once a week for a few months and then he stopped all together. I hope that Alice and I will stay in touch, but what if she finds new friends? I don't want to express my fears to anyone because they might find it silly, but Alice and Edward are both very social. They most likely will find new friends that make them forget about me. But instead I smile.

"We will talk so much that we will get sick of each other!" I jokingly say as I play punch Alice's shoulder.

"What about me, Bells? Are you going to miss me?" Edward says with a crooked smile. I didn't even notice him walk over here. Emmett was right behind him.

"Well…I might be able to actually tolerate you from a distance." I joke back.

"Ouch." He says and puts his hands up to admit defeat. Esme walks away towards Carlisle and leaves the four of us all alone to say our goodbyes.

"I'm going to miss you both!" Alice's whimpers as she gives Emmett and me a hug. She and I said our goodbyes earlier so that we didn't have to cry in front of the boys since we knew that they would only make fun of us for being girls.

I turn towards Edward and give him a hug. I look into his green eyes and think about how much I will miss him. I never really thought much about saying goodbye to Edward or about how awful I feel knowing I might not see him again. In a moment of weakness I give Edward a small kiss on the cheek. It was nothing big but it did give me butterflies. Afterwards I turn and walk away with Alice over towards the truck, leaving the two boys to say their goodbyes.

The moving vans are all packed and the Cullen's are now all crammed into their car. Emmett and I watch as they pull out of the drive way. Alice and Edward are in the backseat and they both turn to wave goodbye. I can see Alice tearing up as she waves, but as I look at Edward I feel those butterflies stiffen as if they suddenly turned to stone then disappeared. My best friends are leaving me and I feel empty.

Emmett pats my back and says that mom has lunch ready for us. I turn to follow, thinking about how my life could be much worse and I shouldn't mope. Just smile, Bella. You will be with your friends again. You will be whole again.

**Thank you for trying out my story. I hope you all enjoyed it and plan to continue it. I will update every Tuesday night. Please leave a review telling me what you liked and didn't like. I accept all critiques, because I want to make this story the best it could possibly be. Love you all bunches! XOXO**


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